Cargo or dunnage air bags are used in the cargo shipment or transportation industry as a means for readily and easily securing or bracing cargo within the holds of, for example, railroad cars, ships, airplanes, truck trailers, and the like. Such dunnage or cargo air bags conventionally comprise an inflatable bladder which is enclosed within an outer bag or envelope fabricated from a plurality of paper plies. The air bags are conventionally of such construction and size as to readily enable the same to be inserted into voids or spaces defined between spaced loads, or between a particular cargo load and a side or end wall of the cargo container or hold, whereupon inflation of the air bag, the air bag will expand thereby fixedly engaging the adjacent cargo loads or the cargo load and container wall so as to secure the cargo loads against undesirable movement during transit. Obviously, in order to achieve the inflation of the cargo or dunnage air bags to a predetermined pressurized level, such air bags are also conventionally provided with an inflation valve assembly which permits compressed or pressurized air to be conducted into the interior portion of the inflatable bladder. Typically, the inflation valve assembly comprises a tubular valve body having a flange portion integrally fixed thereto. The flange portion is welded or heat-sealed to an interior wall portion of the inflatable bladder so as to form an air-tight seal therewith, while the tubular valve body projects outwardly from the air bag so as to be externally accessible for fluidic communication with a suitable air inflation fixture or assembly by means of which the compressed or pressurized air can be conducted into the interior portion of the inflatable bladder. The inflation valve assembly conventionally comprises a valve stem which is mounted within the tubular valve body and is movable between CLOSED and OPEN states. More particularly, the valve stem is normally spring-biased toward the CLOSED state but is able to be moved to the OPEN state against the spring-biasing force by means of the air inflation fixture or assembly.
An example of such a conventional or typical cargo air bag inflation valve assembly is disclosed within U.S. Pat. No. 5,082,244 which issued on Jan. 21, 1992 to Krier et al. As disclosed within FIG. 1, which corresponds in part to FIG. 5 of the noted patent to Krier et al., the air bag is disclosed at 10 and is seen to comprise first and second oppositely disclosed sheets or plies 16,24 with an inflatable bladder 22 interposed therebetween. An air bag inflation valve assembly 28 comprises a flange portion 34 which is welded to an interior portion of the plastic bladder 22, and a tubular valve body 30 which passes through a hole provided within the sheet 24 so as to effectively define a fixture external of the air bag 10 for facilitating inflation of the internal bladder 22 with compressed air. The valve body 30 has a passageway 32 defined therethrough, and a valve stem 44 is located within the passageway 32. The lower end portion of the valve stem 44 comprises a valve closure plate 46 which has an annular portion 48 which is adapted to be seated upon a valve seat member 36 of the valve body 30. A spring 50 normally biases the valve stem 44 to its CLOSED position, and the valve stem 44 is movable to its OPENED position when a force is imposed upon the end 52 of the valve stem 44 which is disposed opposite the valve closure plate 46. An inflation mechanism 54 includes a main body portion 56 within which there is provided an internally threaded portion 68 for threaded engagement with an air hose, not shown, by means of which compressed air can be supplied for inflating the bladder 22 through means of an axially oriented passageway 66. An annular member 58 is threadedly mounted upon a lower end portion of the body portion 56 and has a plurality of detent balls 72 mounted thereon. A collar member 60 is slidably mounted upon the annular member 58, and an annular portion 70 also projects axially downwardly from the body portion 56 for engaging the upper end portion 52 of the valve stem 44. When the collar member 60 is slidably moved downwardly with respect to the annular member 58, the detent balls 72 are forced radially inwardly so as to effectively lock the inflation mechanism 54 upon the inflation valve assembly 28, by engaging annular detent surface 80 defined between inclined surface portions 38,40, so as to achieve inflation of the bladder 22.
While the inflation valve assembly 28 of Krier et al. has proven to be operationally satisfactory, it can nevertheless be appreciated that the assembly 28 does comprise a substantial number of operative components and is therefore in fact relatively complex. Another conventional or PRIOR ART filling nozzle or inflation valve assembly for use in conjunction with the filling of cargo or dunnage air bags, sacks, containers, or the like, and which is relatively simple in structure and operation, is disclosed within U.S. Pat. No. 5,651,403 which issued on Jul. 29, 1997 to Andersen. As can be appreciated from FIG. 2, which substantially corresponds to FIG. 1 of the Andersen patent, it is seen that the entire closure assembly 1 of Andersen comprises a filling nozzle 5 with valve holder means 18 for holding or receiving a closable valve 7, and a flanged member 10 which includes a cylindrical or tubular portion 11 and a plate-shaped portion 12 which is adapted to be fixedly secured to the interior of the inflatable dunnage air bag or container. The filling nozzle 5 includes a lower portion 47 which is snap-connected onto the flanged member 10 as at 49, and the upper portion of the filling nozzle 5, upon which the closable valve 7 and valve holder 18 are disposed, is pivotally mounted upon the flanged member 10 by means of a hinge member 50. When the container or dunnage air bag is to be closed, the filling nozzle 5 sealingly engages the flanged member 10 and is retained at such position by means of a snapping hook 30 snap-engaging a snap-connection 14,31 provided upon the flanged member 10. When the container or dunnage air bag is to be inflated with compressed air, a bayonet lock 37 is adapted to be mated with a gripping coupling through which compressed air may be delivered to the assembly 1.
While the system of Andersen is readily appreciated to be substantially simpler in construction as compared to the system of Krier et al., it is nevertheless desirable to construct an inflation valve assembly which simplifies the overall structure of the assembly still further. In addition, it is also desirable to utilize a suitable implement in conjunction with the valve assembly which not only readily facilitates the inflation of the dunnage air bag, sack, container, or the like, but likewise facilitates the deflation of the dunnage air bag, sack, container, or the like, so as to not only efficiently secure cargo, but in addition, to efficiently enable the unloading of the cargo from the particular cargo holds of the particular truck, airplane, ship, or railroad transportation facility. These operational requirements seem to have been met by means of still another conventional or PRIOR ART air valve mechanism for an inflatable device which is disclosed within U.S. Pat. No. 6,138,711 which issued to Lung-Po on Oct. 31, 2000.
As disclosed within FIGS. 3a and 3b, which substantially correspond to FIGS. 3 and 4 of the Lung-Po patent, the air valve mechanism comprises a valve block 10 which is seen to include an upper body portion 11, a lower body portion 13, and a radially outwardly extending annular mounting flange member 12 interposed between the upper and lower body portions 11,13 for facilitating the mounting of the valve mechanism upon an external wall portion of the object to be inflated. A radially inwardly extending annular flange member 14 is also interposed between the upper and lower body portions 11,13, and a mounting or positioning portion 141 is integral with one side of the flange member 14 for mounting a valve flap 20 thereon. The valve flap 20 comprises a deformable rubber flap which is mounted within the lower body portion 13 beneath the radially inwardly extending flange member 14 and includes a folding groove 23 which effectively divides the valve flap 20 into a fixed flap portion mounted upon the mounting or positioning portion 141 by means of a fastening device 40, and a free flap portion which is movable between OPEN and CLOSED positions as seen in FIGS. 3b and 3a, respectively. A pair of locating plates 131 project downwardly from substantially diametrically opposite sides of the lower body portion 13, and it is noted that the diametrical or chordal extent or distance defined between the locating plates 131 is less than the diametrical extent of the valve flap 20. Accordingly, when the valve flap 20 is moved by compressed air from the CLOSED position to the OPENED position, it must deform in order to pass beyond the locating plates 131. In a similar manner, in order to move the valve flap 20 from the OPENED position back to its CLOSED position, the valve flap 20 is necessarily provided with a finger rod 21 so as to again cause deformation of the valve flap 20 and pull the same beyond the locating plates 131. It can therefore be appreciated that while the valve mechanism of Lung-Po appears to be operatively satisfactory, potential is present for the jamming of the valve flap 20 within the mechanism. In addition, the valve mechanism of Lung-Po obviously does not lend itself to automatic inflation and deflation operational modes or techniques in view of the need for operator assistance in moving the valve flap 20 from the OPENED position to the CLOSED position.
A need therefore exists in the art for a new and improved cargo air bag inflation and deflation system which is relatively simple in structure, and which facilitates both the automatic inflation and deflation of the cargo or dunnage air bag so as to efficiently enable the securing of loaded cargo within cargo holds as well as to efficiently enable the unloading of the secured cargo from the cargo holds.